Peep-Hole Reporters Are Cruising Men’s Restrooms Newscaster Voyeurs: Sad Turn Toward Top Ratings Compiled by Badpuppy’s GayToday From a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Report

"As an organization that represents lesbian and gay professionals concerned with responsible portrayal, we deplore this kind of voyeuristic broadcast journalism," said Karen Boothe, NLGJA president.

"NLGJA in no way condones illegal sexual activity in public places," said Boothe. "But nor do we condone exploitative coverage that panders to sexual curiosity as a way of pumping up ratings." Boothe added that reporting of improper conduct anywhere must meet journalistic standards of accuracy, relevance and good taste.

Boothe referred to several instances in which news stations, some using hidden cameras, spy on rest stop and bathroom locales allegedly used as sexual meeting places by males. This unprecedented use of secret news cameras in restrooms has turned up in several cities-up to 20 according to an article published in The Village Voice this week. They include San Antonio, San Diego, Chicago, Miami, Charlotte and Albuquerque. Fox's Channel 5 in New York ran such a segment on Monday, May 11, 1998.

The Voice article, by Richard Goldstein, reports that in many cases cameras are intruding in business and other private establishment restrooms without permission. In one case, the newspaper quotes a reporter who said he sat on a toilet seat for some time with a camera hidden in his shoulder bag, waiting until someone approached him.

In San Antonio, station KENS-TV last year ran a story that depicted nude men in a sexual act in a restroom, causing a community furor over such images. Similar images were presented in a recent San Diego broadcast news segment.

"Depicting such images, homosexual or heterosexual becomes suspect when highly promoted as investigative journalism," said Boothe, who is political correspondent for Minnesota Public Radio.

She continued: "Public sex is as foreign to the lives of most gay people as it is to most straight people. Males who engage in this practice with other males are usually those whose fear of societal condemnation makes them afraid to frequent clubs and bars where they risk being identified."

Boothe said such stereotypical stories rarely examine the societal pressures that push people to have anonymous sex. What's more, day-to-day coverage on these stations often fails to present an accurate portrait of gay people living healthy and productive lives.

NLGJA works within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of lesbian and gay issues and opposes newsroom bias against lesbians and gays and all other minorities. Since its founding in 1990, NLGJA has grown to a 1,200 member, 23-chapter organization in the U.S. and Canada. Its members are available as resources when questions of ethics or newsworthiness arise.